Hunger
by RheesMag
Summary: Gareth and his family have spent the last few months traveling on the road after the apocalypse hit them without warning. Starving, and with little in the way of nourishment, Gareth is about to give up when he notices a home that has more than just the potential of shielding them. It could be the start of a new life for them.


_It takes ten times as long to put yourself back together as it does to fall apart_

 _-Finnick Odair, Mockingjay_

* * *

Life was not something that had been necessarily _easy_ since the virus took over parts of Georgia, and then completely obliterated everything that used to be familiar and home. After the last of the military had evacuated the area before bombarding the city with bombs, most of the inhabitants of a fallen world had been forced to travel through the populated wilderness and hope they were not attacked by something. That "something" being either walkers, or vicious humans. That way of living had been something Gareth and his family had become familiar with, always on the move, always rationing food to whoever needed it most. Starvation was a common theme among their small group when they did not have any lean meat to carry them through. Birds and other critters became their source of nourishment until they stumbled upon an abandoned train station "Terminus."

For the first time since the outbreak, Gareth had hope that him and his family could make something of this building. They could build a life for themselves that did not include having to battle for survival. The section of fresh soil near the map room, was quickly transformed into a vegetable garden by his mother. The fields out back were fortified to make room for expansions, and the fences were brought back to standard with a little muscle work from those willing to help. The place itself had survived the worst of the outbreak, and with only a few walkers for the group to clear out. Staring down the corridor of rooms that had been used for bedrooms, Gareth knew he could use this place to bring other people _in_. People who had gone through much of what he did when the turn first happened.

They needed the help; they needed to have people who would be willing to be part of a community and leave the past behind them. Food had started to became scarce after the last of the vegetables had been used in a stew Mary prepared for them the night before. They had snacks stored in a cabinet, but Gareth was determined not to raid the stash unless he absolutely had to. Gathering his people around for a meeting, he tried to stress the importance of opening up their doors to others, and gaining a pair of helping hands to assist them. Most, if not all, were in favor of helping people. After all, Gareth could remember a time where he and his family had been forced to rely on the refugee camps to shelter them, and then the random kindness of strangers after that. If he could pay that back? It would be worth the pain to get there.

After the last of his volunteers disappeared beyond the gates to go fishing for supplies in a corner store they found in the phone book, Gareth made the long jaunt over to the map room and tried to orient his thoughts around starting preparations for inviting people in. They were not in the same world anywhere where he could simply broadcast something to someone, and expect them to show up. They needed signs, they needed more than a radio broadcast that would likely only be heard by a handful of people. The map room was easily the largest room in the station, and proved to be a decent headquarters for his tentative venture. Striding down the length of the room, he envisioned more than just two people helping with the project. Once they brought people in, he could assign them jobs that would help regulate the flow of things.

Running his hand along a workbench that was rusted from months of misuse, he thought about that bench being something they could use to build tools to tend to their property. Moving the bench over toward a larger table that spanned a good portion of the back part of the room, he grabbed a map that was lying discarded on the ground. Peering down at the mishmash of names and places that surrounded the area, he grabbed a red marker and marked "Terminus" near the middle where they should be.

"Hey, man."

Turning when he heard the sound of his brother's voice intruding on his private thoughts, he stuffed the map out of sight and leaned against the table to face him. "Hey."

"I was just-"

"Wandering around aimlessly?" Gareth smirked. "You used to do that _all_ the time when you were a squirt."

Alex shuffled uneasily on his feet as he thought about his brother's teasing statement. They loved each other, that much was clear to Gareth, even when they both managed to get on the other's last nerve. Alex had been the one to insist on trying Terminus when they first came across it during that humid day. Ever since then, Alex had become his right hand man while he attempted to work through the inner secrets of a place that had saved their lives.

"Well, yeah, but that was awhile ago." Alex came closer, and peered down at the map on the ground. "What are you doin' with that?"

"I was thinking we could make something of this place."


End file.
